Obama’s praise of Wal-Mart draws fire from labor groups, critics

President Obama spotlighted Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Friday as part of a clean energy initiative.

Obama, who spoke at a Wal-Mart in Mountain View, Calif., announced executive actions intended to increase energy efficiency in buildings and vehicles. He also said that more than 300 companies and governments at the state and local level had committed to adopting solar power.

The president held up Wal-Mart as an example of one company that has invested in renewable energy. Solar systems now dot hundreds of its stores around the country, company officials have said.

But Obama’s comments drew the ire of labor groups and other critics who say the retailer pays low wages and does not treat workers fairly.

In a Facebook post titled “Department of Ill-Advised Photo Opportunities,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich bashed Walmart as “one of the nation’s largest and worst employers,” with “low wages, unreliable hours, few benefits and discrimination against women.”

“What numbskull in the White House arranged this?” Reich wrote. “Walmart may be one of the retail industry’s leaders in the use of renewable energy in its stores, but its greenhouse emissions grew 2% last year to nearly half a million metric tons, and it lags badly behind other large companies in renewable power.”

Wal-Mart has consistently said it pays workers a fair wage. On Friday, the retailer took the opportunity to emphasize its clean energy investments for the future.

“Today, we took the next step -- committing to double the number of on-site solar energy projects at our locations throughout the U.S. by 2020,” Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar wrote in an email. “We are proving that a company can be profitable and sustainable at the same time.”